Nvidia officially released its new feature for its RTX graphics lineups early this March, the Nvidia Video Super Resolution.
The technology, while it might sound similar to the already existing upscaling technology Nvidia DLSS, is an entirely different technology. However, it shares the same goal which is upscalingー one upscales video game graphics and one upscales video playback. Currently, Nvidia Video Super Resolution only supports RTX30- and 40-series GPU.
What is Nvidia VSR?
Nvidia Video Super Resolution, or VSR in short, is the latest feature update that got rolled up early this March for users with RTX-branded GPU cards. The feature uses AI upscaling technology and the Tensor Cores to improve the quality of video watched in a Google Chrome or Edge browser by removing blocky compression artifacts and upscaling video resolution.
The goal of this new feature is to improve video sharpness and clarity on online platform that features video playback such as YouTube and Twitch. The technology can also be used to watch movies on streaming services such as Hulu and Netflix.
The method used for this upscale technology is by analyzing each frame available with their trained deep learning AI network. The network analyses the lower-resolution video frame and predicts the residual image at the target resolution. The residual image is then superimposed on top of a traditional upscaled image to correct artifact errors and match the intended output resolution.
Is your GPU eligible for the feature? How to enable them?
As of March 2023, Nvidia VSR only supports RTX30- and 40-series GPU, either in separate dedicated GPU form factor or notebook. However, Nvidia also plans to bring the technology to the RTX 20-series as well; this includes the RTX series for professional/enterprise.
If you are eligible for the feature, you can enable the feature by accessing the Nvidia Control Panel, go to “Adjust Video Image Settings”, tick the “Super Resolution” option, and set the quality level from 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest).
On a notebook, you also need to set your Graphics Preference to high performance in browsers that you intend to have VSR on. To do that, go to “Graphics settings”, under Custom options for apps, add the path to your desired browsers, right-click on the browser icon under your list of customized apps, select Options, and set it to “High Performance”.
To sum it up,
Nvidia has released its new RTX exclusive feature, the Nvidia Video Super Resolution or VSR. The feature aims to lessen the impact of video compression on video playback in streaming platforms by using their deep learning AI network.
The feature also utilizes AI upscaling technology to create sharper results on video that has a lower resolution than the intended output resolution.
At the current state, Nvidia only verifies two browsersー Google Chrome and Edge for VSR support. However, the technology itself has been implemented in the Chromium framework.
As of March 2023, Nvidia VSR is only available for RTX30- and 40-series cards either in the form of dedicated graphic cards or notebook GPU. However, Nvidia plans to roll the update to RTX20-series as well as RTX professional/business cards in the future.
